


Haruu II - Rebellion

by Reulte



Series: Haruu [2]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-03 16:58:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12752436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reulte/pseuds/Reulte
Summary: If you haven’t read Haruu -- you really should read it before beginning this.  Because Haruu takes place over five years beginning shortly before Order 66, a lot of characters, canon and original, were involved.At the end of Haruu, Rex's brothers are moving onward toward their own lives and futures; quite a few go to Dantooine. Some seek redemption for the crimes they committed as stormtroopers.Haruu II – Rebellion begins almost five years after the end of Haruu (almost ten years after Order 66). For the most part, the clone deserters have assimilated into the local populations. They have wives, families, children; they have purpose in their lives and a future beyond the death promised by Kamino.And yet…They're brothers bred for battle.  They mourn for the brothers already dead and even more for their Stormtrooper brothers still in the Imperial Army. There is a developing alliance – several powerful planetary systems organizing against the Empire.They long to fight again, not as they used to – as an army of slaves built to serve with nothing to gain from fighting.Now they have much to gain or lose.They are, after all, free men…





	1. The Lost Calf

**Author's Note:**

> This story is long and incomplete. It is full of clones, some canon and some original. My writing on it is erratic.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Jaac, Kierzon, Nub, Nac and Bird are all introduced in Part 30 - JAAC in my story 'Haruu' while Col's story begins in Part 4: First Day on Saleucami, Chapter 26 and continues in Part 5 Chapter 33.
> 
> JAAC or "just another annoying clone" was on a desert planet with his sons (Kierzon, Nac, Nub) and daughter, Bird. The three youngest were deserted and exposed to the desert environment. JAAC was the last original clone from a company headed by the more remote, unsympathetic Jedi and, later, by non-clone generals who disliked the close-knit relations of the original clones. JAAC was thrown onto a funeral pyre while still alive and rescued by Kierzon, his first son.  
> _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

For all that came after, Kierzon remembered everything began with his youngest brother's bantha calf.

"I know he went this way, Kier," Nub was pulling at Kier's sleeve, half-hauling him up the steep pathway then stepping to a bush and pulling a bit of pale undercoat fur from the thistly plant then shoving it into Kierzon's face. "See?"

"Nub, we've been searching most of the day. It's dark and yellow moon will set soon." Kier put his hand on Nub's shoulder. "We have to go back to the tents. Bantha are made for this weather but we'll freeze."

Nub sighed heavily and nodded, a shaggy lock of fire-red hair falling over his eyes. "You're right, Kier. It's a lost cause. But he had such good breeding. One of Adwy's best cows and Leven's tournament bull."

"Maybe it wandered its way back down to the corral." Kier tried to be optimistic for Nub's sake, the bull calf was his prized responsibility. Nub tipped his nose in the air and took a small sniff then a longer, more full-bellied breath. He shook his head.

"Smell that? That's panic piss. Something scared him and he won't stop running until he's calmed down."

Kier shook his head as he turned to head back down the pathway. "What could scare a bantha?" he asked his younger brother.

Nub shrugged. "Ghosts?" he suggested and Kier was about to turn around and tell him exactly how ridiculous an idea that was when there was suddenly no trail, no ground beneath him. Kier's arms flailed and his fingers twisted around a narrow branch with his gloved hand as he slid down then his body dropped and slammed against stone, knocking his breath from his lungs. The force of the blow caused his hands to slip a bit but he held on. Nub was there also, hands around Kier's wrists pulling up, his face a pale rictus of terror and the dark of his pupils a tiny black hole against his green eyes. Gravity was inexorable and Kier's fingers slowly slid, winter bud by winter leaf, over the thin branch.

"No, Kier," screamed Nub, pulling more frantically.

"Tell Jaac what happened." Kier replied, surprising himself with his calm even as his hands scrabbled for something more to grab, something to hold on to that wouldn't tumble down with him. He had a moment's thought that there would be a ledge just below his feet and they would have a good laugh afterward. Kier's hand slipped, the small branch sprung back and Nub made a grab, catching Kier's sleeve, he teeth grit together, as if to hold Kier by sheer determination. For an instant in time, Kier was suspended then he wasn't and Nub's scream seemed to last forever.

* * * * * * * * * * 

Kier's head hurt and when he moved there was a ragged pain throughout his body that made him cry out. He was in bed, the bantha and nerf furs thick beneath him, but Nac and Nub must have stolen his covering. He was cold and he reached back for his cover, but again, sharp agony greeted his movement. Kier wanted to get up and search for his cover or at least steal trickster Nac's cover, but the pain was more than the cold so Kier let it be as he shivered.

Kier, Kier.

He thought he heard his name called, but it was only the wind After a while, cold cut through most of the pain and he remembered that he'd been with Nub searching for one of his kriffing bantha. "Nub! Nub!" he called, waiting for a reply but only the wind spoke. Kier looked up into the sky, hoping to see one of the moons or perhaps a constellation that would tell him how much night had passed and how much longer until day, but above him was only a wide expanse of air interwoven with winterleaf branches and a few stars between drifting clouds. Kier licked his lips, thirsty; as thirsty as he'd ever been on Dantooine but not as thirsty as on the yellow desert planet of Thvenya. Saoha and 'Soka had let him sit by one of the triple glassteel windows as the _Silver Bird_ left the planet some four, almost five years ago. He swore he'd never return there, never return to a desert. Yet, here he was, thirsty. "Nub," he called again but there was silence and Kier laid his head against the cooling fur of the bantha calf, trying to brush the long fur of its winter coat over his body.

In clarity, Kier remembered telling Nub to tell Jaac. He nodded slightly, Nub had gone down to tell Jaac, to get him and Col - no, not Col with his cold-bone aches - but Gekko and Lev and Pax who would come up, rescue him from where he'd fallen and carry him down the mountain. Kier sighed, he'd be carried down into camp and his pretty kin-cousin, Lorusha would probably ignore him even more than she had since she'd come from back from the last festival.

Kier, Kier.

He jerked his head, listening, his mouth open to reply but it was only the wind and Kier slumped again. He felt frozen; his world narrowed to cold, pain, numbness and the shaggy body which had fallen before him. Kier shivered. He was cold and he recognized the wetness that was so cold against his belly was his own voided bladder-waste.

"Papa," he sobbed softly simply to hear the sound of his own voice, simply because he was dying and he wanted the wind to hold on to his words.

Sometimes Kier called Jaac 'papa', but only when he wanted something. On Thvenya as an orphaned child, he'd known he needed someone strong, someone adult to help him survive and when he'd seen the moving arm on the edges of the pyre and heard hoarse shouts, he had chanced it and pulled out the wounded man. For a long time, he thought it had been a poor choice. Jaac's large body needed more water than Kier and there were nights he breathed terror because he'd stolen water and run without looking back, bringing it to the small hollow in the park. Then Jaac had rescued Nac and Kier had frowned. He'd wanted someone to help him survive, not squander their few resources on another mouth. Nub had been found shortly after and Kier felt despair, often sobbing himself to sleep. When Jaac had come home from begging once day with a baby, a pink, sun-exposed baby whose needs were not only water and chewable food, but expensive nutrition and lotion for her heated skin Kier had yelled at Jaac and run away for several days.

"I'm sorry, papa." Kier whispered. Funny. For a long time Kier had forgotten that when he came home to the little hollow in the city's old fortifications, Jaac had handed him all the water for that day before he'd gone out to beg or find work. Even odder, Kier remembered he had shared it with his toddling tormentors, Nub and Nac. He remembered holding Bird in his thin arms and her sucking on a bulb of the precious liquid.

Papa.

Kier used the word as he needed to get Jaac to do what he wanted. Papa, his real papa was the lanky, golden-haired man with the easy grin in Kier's dreams standing with the statuesque woman with sapphire eyes. The woman often shifted to Tyrlanya, their similarities evident, but dour, flame-scarred, single-eyed Jaac could never take the place of the golden man with easy laughter.

Kier never told Jaac that hunger and the smell of meat had brought him to the funeral pyre. He'd never told Jaac he'd eaten well that one time, keeping the meat in his belly though he had wanted to puke it up, after he had dragged Jaac from the flames.

Kier, Kier.

It was just the wind again, and Kier huddled closer to the soft cooling mound that had once been a prize-worthy bantha.

"Kier!" That was Jaac's bellow but with a tone of panic that Kier had never heard before, not even on Thvenya.

"Papa, papa!" His voice was high and small in the darkness, swallowed by the wind. They would never hear him. Kier cried. "I'm sorry, papa, I'm so sorry," he mumbled. Though he wasn't sure to whom he was speaking or what he was sorry for.

There was noise, voices talking and suddenly warm arms circled Kier's frozen form, he felt a coat over him, already warm with someone's body heat.

"It's ok, my son, my boy." It was papa's voice, low and rumbly, like the bantha as they wandered the grassy plain. "Sshh, Kier, my son." Funny, Jaac's voice had never wavered before. "I'm here, I have you." Kier felt hands, not gloves, but warm hands cup his face. "We'll get you out of here and home, my son."

Kier felt wet tears fall on his cheeks and recognized they weren't his.

"Don't cry, papa. You can't spare the water."

There was a gurgled sound, neither laugh nor cry.

"Ah Kier, you are worth all the rivers we could ever cry if you left us."

Nineteen year old Kier softly ducked his head in the warm curve of his father's shoulder and added to the river of tears.


	2. A Family Meeting

 

It had been almost ten years since he'd carried out Order 66 on New Plympto, about five years since he'd last seen all his brothers on Saleucami and almost a year since Rex or Cody had last come to Dantooine. Life had been good on Dantooine.

Col and his brothers heard about close calls between rebels and Imperial stormtroopers. They heard about clone deserters being found and executed. Names were never reported, only a trooper's designation and they knew that was a message from the Empire. You are nothing, only a number, only what we have made you.

Col took it upon himself to say remembrance for those souls though he hadn't known them. Fives or Chopper usually told him those stories were exaggerated, but sometimes when he asked, they lowered their eyes and looked away with sorrowing nods. But on Dantooine, life had been good.

Col saw Fives and Chopper regularly, living as they did, in the small ship, the Silver Bird with Sula, Saoha and the children. There were children. As always, Col's caught his breath in wonder. There existed a continuation; a generation beyond their crèche-born lives that extended into the future. Not just children on Silver Bird, but on Dantooine and on Saleucami and Shili; children of troopers. He hoped, he knew, he counted on there being other troopers in the galaxy like Jaac or Kix or Jesse's family, who'd taken war-orphans into their arms or women, victims of Order 37 who, when that dark-haired, smoky-eyed child had been born, had taken the babe into her arms in love.

He hoped there were more women like Ahsoka and Suu and his own beloved Ehveen, who had seen into the loneliness of a trooper's heart and filled it with love and hope and children.

Col glanced to one side and saw the profiles of Colehn and Kierzon in the blue darkness of night. Jaac sat on the other side of Kierzon. Even though they were on a nerfhide on cold granite, they were comfortable, warm in their fur-inside hooded coats of Dantooine nerfherders and warm in companionship.

"How's your leg, Kier?" He asked in the cold darkness. "Does the cold make it ache?" Col had boneaches and limped in the winter cold from the damage he'd taken in battle so long ago; shattered by a seismic driver and blown like grass seed into the river. Kriff, he ached in deep cold, ached so much he cried, ached so much some days he could not get out of the warm furs without help from Ehveen. They knew; his brothers who took over his work on the coldest days. Tyrlanya had woven a special cloth for Ehveen to make him a pair of winter under garments. It helped, it all helped and Col kept careful track of the favors he owed to repay them in summer's heat.

Col chuckled. He knew his brothers counted themselves as still owing him for bringing them to Dantooine, for sponsoring them into the clan and for introducing them to wonderful, single women to marry. They counted their debt to him as great as their debt to Rex or Boil – a life-changing debt.

Kierzon thought a moment, flexing his leg about around the recently healed break. "No, feels fine." He paused, the twinkling of the stars catching his eyes. He'd recently begun studying the first quarter astro-navigation. "And for what we found…"

Jaac laughed gruffly. "It was worth the pain of a broken leg and all that enforced inactivity?"

"Worth all the studying I got done," Kier laughed. "Even worth being stuck in the threading house with all those women mothering me."

It was Colehn's turn to laugh; still a boy's laugh though his voice crackled and roughened as he spoke. He'd be a man by summer and Col felt a moment's disquiet at the thought of his son being a man. "You told me you loved almost every minute of it. You told me that Lorusha..."

Kier blushed then swung his arm to smack his younger cousin next to him.

Colehn might have sat up and continued the sport with his older cousin but Col pointed out a movement above them. "What say you, Kier?" Col knew, of course, but they were always teaching the younglings. It was his pleasure, particularly when Clan Gwydr had selected him as chirgyo – teacher.

Both Kier and Colehn turned their eyes toward the small crystal light that Col pointed. Colehn shrugged. As far as he was concerned, it was a star. Everything in the sky counted as a star until it was something else. Kier watched for a moment then sighed.

"Satellite. Probably one of the weather trackers." Something else in the quadrant caught his eyes. He sucked in his lower lip and pointed. "But that, I think…" Then he shouted. "That's them!" He turned to Col who was already grinning.

"Good eyes, Kier. Colehn…" but Colehn was already running toward the tents.

By the time the little ship of Fives' family came in, rapidly – that had to be Ahsoka piloting through the treacherous mountains winds – Dub, Leven and Leven's niece, Lorusha Nargwan, were moving up the hill with rapid steps.

It had been Ahsoka piloting. Rex, of course, had come with his wife and Chopper was there with noticeably pregnant Saoha. They were warmly dressed, but not sufficiently for winter on Dantooine, and Chopper opened his coat and drew his lovely rose-colored Saoha into its folds and his arms.

Col raised his eyebrows lightly at Chopper. _Making up for lost time_ , they seemed to ask but Chopper only grinned as he tightened his arm around her. They were all making up for lost time.

Cody was the surprise; both unexpected and thoroughly welcome.

"I'm glad you're here, sir." Col greeted him with a nod while Dub and Leven straightened almost to attention.

Cody grinned at the words. He'd finally convinced most of his brothers to drop the 'commander' but he didn't think they'd ever lose the 'sir'. "I was visiting Saleucami." Recuperating would have been a better word but he didn't have to mention that. "Rex told me you found a possible candidate for a base?"

"A cave, sir!" exclaimed Kierzon. "As big as the mountain itself."

Cody's brows drew up in surprise then down, less in doubt than in trying to keep his expectations low. He glanced at Col and Jaac who both nodded. "I'll have to see it, Kierzon. Space is only one criteria. I've got a list as long as my arm…" he sighed softly.

Kierzon nodded. "I've got an estimate of its size – just areas where a man can comfortably stand. Papa and Gekko did most of the work."

Cody and Rex both glanced at Jaac who blushed red with both pride and embarrassment then put his hand on Kier's shoulder.

"I haven't calculated volume, but there is plenty of space and high areas," Kier continued as there was no interruption. "There's fresh water running through part of it, but the cave itself is pretty dry. I think that would be the most important part but…"

"Oh, be quiet, Kier," interrupted Lorusha as she clasped her fingers around his, "and invite them to the tents where we can talk in warm comfort."

Kier blushed at realizing that Col and Jaac were allowing him to host, blushed pinker at ignoring the visitors' needs, then red as he caught Saoha and Ahsoka glance at each other with womanly smiles and a soft chuckle from Chopper. Kier stood tall as though his courting of Lorusha was still a secret between the two of them.

"Forgive my impatience, but please, come to my family's tent for rest and refreshment." It was the age-old invitation among the herders; to share in times of plenty was a gift of pleasure and to share in times of need was a necessity of kin-alliance.

"With pleasure, Kierzon," answered Cody as he glanced at Ahsoka and Rex. Occasionally he wasn't sure who took precedence between the three of them in the civilian life they'd adopted.

Kierzon turned toward the tents, walking first with the women, Chopper skirting the other side. Lorusha, unmarried, was behind Ahsoka and Saoha with the men flanking them in a semi-circle; a modified squad formation, old habit for the troopers. Jaac was walking to the side of Kier, beaming pride through and through.

"My mother has woven gifts, Aunt Ahsoka, Aunt Saoha." He continued with more enthusiasm and less formality. "Fine gifts for brothers and sisters on Saleucami and Shili; as well as trade goods to make your trip worthwhile."

Cody and Rex glanced at Col and Leven with curiosity.

"Weaving and gifting belongs to the women," Leven explained with a shrug. He ducked his head and chewed at his lips then touched Rex's arm slightly and slowed his pace. Rex understood, gave Cody a nod to continue and slowed until he and Leven were several paces behind the others.

"How's Quad, Rex?" Leven asked quietly, "We'll want to know, but if he's still as bad as when he left…"

Rex chuckled even as he shook his head. "He's doing well, Leven. I wouldn't have expected it, but Shaeeah and Quad have done wonders and he's progressed very well."

Leven smiled and quicken his pace to catch up with the others just entering the tent. He gave a nod to Ahsoka. "That's good. Call me Lev, Rex. It's what my family calls me."

 _Family_. Rex glanced at Ahsoka, who was gazing at him with a smile, their thoughts running the same. The work they'd done on Saleucami those few years back, with Cut and Suu; with Jester and Saria, with Fives and his lovely Zeltron wives. It all came to fruition with that simple word, 'family'. Most of the troopers they'd rescued from the prison frigate had 'family' now. He put his arms around Ahsoka and hugged her close before they entered the tent.


	3. To Shatter the Quiet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AN: Chopper, Boil, and Waxer are canon clones. Numa and Shaeeah are also canon. Other clones and most other characters are OCs.  
> _________________________________________________________________________________________________

_It's been eleven years since Order 66._

_Rebellion forces are organizing against the Empire._

_On Dantooine, a base is being prepared to house fighters and ships of the newly-formed Rebel Alliance._

_**********_

Chopper stretched his back muscles as he closed down _Wild Card's_ cargo hold and strode down the ramp. There'd been a lot of supplies, mostly electronics, and he had volunteered to empty the hold while Sa', escorted by one-armed Djinn, had taken little bean down to Col's tent. Ehveen would attempt to spoil the baby until Sa' and Chopper finished with the new deserter.

Chopper paused for a moment as he took in the changes since the last time he'd been to the Dantooine cave just a few months ago. There'd been a lot of changes, all for the better. The walls were still the white stone of the cavern, but now smoothed and, more importantly, marked with directions. Someone had been smart enough to leave hollows and ledges; a few large enough to sit in or on, while others were only the size of an equipment pack but just as useful. The flight deck was marked, no more accidental bumps as ships maneuvered for space, lights and lighting strips were functional so they could work throughout the night and, despite Chopper's aching shoulders, there were loaders moving around the ships like so many insects around a flower. He'd simply chosen not to use one, preferring to use his muscles after so long in the ship.

There were people he didn't know moving on their business and, while he got a few glancing looks and friendly nods, his scars prevented him from being mistaken for any of his brothers.

Looking down the line, Chopper saw Ahsoka's _Saber_ as well as another ship he knew, _Dancer's Pride,_ and smiled. Besides Rex and Ahsoka, Numa was here along with either Boil or Waxer. It was shaping up to be a good visit.

Numa's family also traveled the edge of the Outer Rim, visiting Saleucami and Dantooine only occasionally, but always with questions for Cut and Jek or Col and Adwr about farming, about eopies, nerf and bantha, about plants and business. They often came with information and rumors that would make their way to Cody and Rex then were on their way again quickly. There was no dispute about their commander; Numa gave the orders in that small family and, while Waxer and Boil would present alternatives and provide information, when she made a determination they simply nodded their agreement. Chopper was fairly sure they, too, were 'kidnapping' Imperial stormtroopers and turning them into brothers.

Looking around, Chopper noticed that finished hangar portions of Kierzon's cavern had been expanded and there were more ships he wasn't familiar with and he wandered among them, looking for other ships he might know; Cody's _Emerald Lady_ or Riposte's _Spear_ perhaps.  He also looked, hopefully, for other clones he might know.  Clones who hadn't been on Saleucami but had escaped the Imperials somehow.

Riposte had returned to Saleucami with news of the refugee family that had taken him to their heart so long ago. The Empire had not been kind to them and of the ten members of his original 'family', only two survived. Riposte, hard and angry, had brought them home: a quiet youngling boy and a lean woman who matched Riposte for anger. After meeting with Riposte's other family headed by Edge and Cass, the boy preferred living on Saleucami. Whenever and where ever they landed, everyone knew that Riposte and the lean woman would always be leaving again soon.

Of Riven and Dare, they'd heard nothing more. Checkout and Backup had gone together, still arguing about cooking breakfast, but inseparable. Cody and Jesse had heard rumors of two brothers in a battle in a shipyard; possibly their two pilots, possibly not. Cut continued to hold the vials of cure in case.

Echo was on Shili; researching useful information and rumors then passing it around appropriately, but determined not to leave Aureki, the children - and it was a handful of children now, or the planet. Barin was old enough that he often traveled with Rex and Ahsoka, but had asked to stay on Saleucami for a season.

Fives and Sula also had stayed on Saleucami this go round and Djinn had volunteered to travel with Saoha and Chopper. Chopper and Saoha had considered staying with Cut and the ever-extending family, with their little bean only a half year old, but Sa' was restless and wanted to be out finding troopers who wanted a life larger than the Imperial army. Chopper smiled thinking of his shared wife and his son.

And their new deserter.

Chopper had checked the stormtrooper for weapons and traps then Murdo and Kellen, two stern-faced brothers from Gorman with a hatred of almost all things Imperial, had taken the new guy to in-brief to wait for Saoha and Chopper. There'd be others there as well; more brothers to show the deserter they existed and he wasn't the first.  There would be some citizens – maybe a Twi'lek or two and one of the Mon Calimari.

"Hey, Chopper," it was a vod's voice and Chopper turned, not at all surprised to see a wave from Waxer looking like nothing so much as some hick from some backwater planet… like Saleucami or Dantooine. A light fuzz over his scalp and face showed he still preferred to shave and he was wearing a tattered nerfhide coat over a shirt decorated with fine stitches, dark blousy trousers and sturdy boots. Chopper laughed. He was a near match except he had long ago decided to grow his silver-streaked hair out a bit. It was his trousers, closer cut to his legs, that had fine embroidery and his coat was back on _Wild Card_. As he moved toward the ship, Numa came down the ramp, tall and slender, walking gracefully and as silent as a scout.

"Good to see you, Waxer. Numa, will I get a re-match this go round?" Chopper was at their ship in several easy strides and giving the young woman a firm hug. She hugged him tightly back. "Is Boil well?" Numa's family never traveled together and Chopper knew that was Numa's choice. There was no dispute about their commander.

"I don't think there will be a rematch, _nerra_ Chopper," she smiled softly, answering his first question, "but we shall see. Boil is well." She turned to Waxer. "If you will close down the _Pride_ , I will meet you…" she glanced at Chopper with a raised eyebrow. "All? In the mess for dinner."

"Sa' will be glad to see you, Numa." He chuckled. "She wants to discuss 'recruiting tactics' with you."

"It will be good to talk with her." She glanced at Waxer then gave a shy grin. "Perhaps we can discuss things of interest to women. It is the one thing I find lacking in my husbands."

Waxer groaned laughingly and shook his head as she left the two brothers behind. "Material, Chopper. She loves to talk material; its texture, its color, its drape, weave, decoration. _Kriff,_ Chopper, I know more than I want about material!"

Chopper chuckled and nodded. "Saoha's particular weakness is jewelry. She doesn't want to own it, but she wants to see all of it, try it all on." He leaned against the ship and observe Waxer push a few supply boxes from the ramp. "Why do I never see you with new men, Waxer?" Chopper asked, his arms folded over his chest as he waited for Waxer to finish and close down _Dancer's Pride_. "I know you get deserters. According to Rex, you three are ahead of me and Sa'. So why do I never see them?"

Waxer slowed, his movements becoming more deliberate as he thought. "We don't bring them home, Chopper." Waxer shook his head softly. "We get them out. We show them something of society, answer their questions and we make suggestions. That's all, Chopper." He slung a final cargo box down the ramp and Chopper bent to slide it from the ramp onto the cavern floor. Waxer continued speaking. "Like Boil did at the prison. Get them out, supply them with information and, sometimes, goods then watch them go. We don't tell them we're rebels." He smiled. "Not as if they don't know, but we don't _tell_ them and we don't ask them to join us. Not a single one has asked about becoming a rebel.  Not really though they have asked about sharing Numa."

Waxer stood, dusted his hands and keyed the ramp closed. He looked into Chopper's eyes; brown to brown and gold. "How many of your brothers would join this Rebel Alliance if they didn't think they'd meet Sa' again? Or other women like her?"

Chopper grunted an embarrassed chuckle. "It's not as if the Rebel Alliance has a monopoly on women." But he knew Waxer's words were true.

"They don't know that, Chopper." Waxer's face was sad. "All this time and all they've really had was the army. As far as they know, women who would be interested in a 'clone'," Waxer spat the word angrily, "are as rare as a natural sabacc, as rare as the albino gundark." He paused. "And they're getting older, faster."

Chopper nodded. "Let's discuss that with Sa' and Numa over dinner." He looked around. "Where did Numa go? She seemed in a hurry."

Waxer's face began to curl into a smile he couldn't hold back then a wide grin which Chopper recognized from his own so-recent past.

"She's gone to see Kix" he asked, with his own smile, and Waxer nodded with a shrug of his shoulder and a slight movement of his eyebrow.

"She says she might be pregnant and wants Kix's assessment."

Chopper laughed and grabbed Waxer around the shoulder, giving him a hug. "Congratulations, my brother. Congratulations. I'll let you hold little bean for practice. Unlike the peach, he likes pretty much everyone." He grinned. "It will be a good dinner tonight. Come on with me to in-brief. Sa' and Djinn should be there soon and we'll debrief the new guy. There's a couple more people for you to meet and you can look over our techniques; compare them with yours and Numa's."

Waxer laughed felling the same camaraderie as Chopper. "Let's go."

**********

Quad's fingers moved over the console in the cavernous room. Banks of communication equipment were pushed against the wall along with chairs and desks. The newly white-plastered walls reflected the light but it was a cold light and Quad reminded himself to re-check the ambient temperature and humidity. He flicked a red-lit switch and called out, "Test, line dirty four. Re'pond."

"Line thirty four correct," came Shaeeah's voice over the speaker, a little too loud for comfort and Quad winced.

"Vo'ume down by four," he instructed, speaking slowly to make sure he was speaking clearly. S _lowly_ , he always reminded himself.

"Is this better?" She adjusted the base volume.

"Much, S'aeeah. You s'ou'd be in…" he glanced over at the schematics, the outer blade of his weak hand holding down the flimsi which had a tendency to curl up at the edges and roll. "R-room sev'teen, cor'dor five." There was a moment's pause.

"No," she sighed deeply. "Room twelve. At least the corridor is correct. It looks like a kitchen. There's lots of unattached attachment connections, a wall of several sinks and a large area for tables and benches."

Quad smiled. Over the last couple of years of his rehabilitative therapy, she variously engaged him in conversations and pushed him to enunciate more clearly. Shaeeah made sure he didn't hide himself by inviting his brothers and sisters for visits and conversations and prevented others from tiring him too much or pushing him to frustration. She was with him and listened, asked questions, made suggestions every time Kix or Saria visited their small home. Shaeeah massaged his wounded body, played endless finger games to improve his dexterity. Most, if not all of his improvement, he thought, could be laid in her slender palms.

"Good 'nough, S'aeeah. By the way, love you." He held the stylus awkwardly in his hand, preparing to write down the information. He found the room on the map; checked and corrected the number as he noted markings for water and electricity and a generator. He nodded to himself, there was a consistency in the errors they were seeing. "What are the weadings?"

Wonderful man," Shaeeah giggled softly then recited the codes of the electronic receiver, going slow enough for him to get all the numbers of the frequency. The dimensions of the room were calculated automatically by the acoustic receiver and would be transferred to his console when she brought back the receiver. Quad had to be neat about writing the numbers on the diagram. He looked at his writing and shook his head. The letters and numbers were readable but, except for their small size, looked like the scrawlings of Suu's youngest child.

This wasn't from his hand, this was from his mind. His 'neat' wasn't very and he spelled out the colors – badly, he knew, phonetically, with a line of the correct color above the word. A double-check that he, not Shaeeah, not Rex, not even Cody, insisted on. Part of his brain said the words were correct even as another part of his brain knew that was wrong. "Confirm; nine one b-lue four one four seven wed."

"That's confirmed, Quad. Let me guess, wrong room?" The exasperation in her voice carried over the speaker. He chuckled.

"R-right room. Wrong code."

There was another pause from her end of the comm unit; then a chortle of laughter as she caught the joke.

"Come on back, Sha. Gettin' tired." It had taken him and his pride a long time to learn to confess that. He hadn't thought he had any pride remaining after his return to Saleucami until Kix had let him know exactly how much extra work his pushing himself and ignoring his limits cost Shaeeah.

He set his hands against his power chair and stretched, pushing with his arms and straightening; lifting himself from the chair with the strength of his arms. Even his weak arm was strong these days; he had no dexterity in that hand, but his arm strength was good. Not that his nerveless legs were cramped, but it felt intellectually good to 'stretch his legs' and the muscles of his back.  More importantly, it was good for him. He lowered himself back to the chair and was flexing his back and shoulders from leaning over the desk when Rex entered the communications center. Quad turned the power chair at the sound and smiled at the captain.

"Still here?" Rex raised an eyebrow in surprise. He had changed from his flight suit into something more suitable for Dantooine: bantha-hide boots, trousers and a belted tunic.

"Jus' finishing. Shae's coming for me." Quad made an effort to enunciate more clearly for the captain who wasn't used to Quad's speech. Quad had spent a year mourning himself; wishing for death and doing nothing. Then three years of therapy and practice and training. Now he made the effort. Apparently he was the only one surprised at how much progress he had made.

Rex nodded. "How is it?"

Quad gave a soft laugh and shook his head. "Wiring and mag 'trips comp'etely random. We got what we paid for."

Rex shrugged. They hadn't paid for it and everyone knew that. Dantooine Base had been a modified cavern, prepared and made livable by Col's clans in an amazingly short time. There were bound to be errors. "Can it all be straightened out in time for the ships' arrivals? There'll be about two thousand rebels to start. Twenty to twenty-five large transports and perhaps fifty fighters are following us over the new few days." At the moment, there were only about a hundred rebels living in the caves.

Quad took a deep breath and nodded. It had been a long day and he knew he slurred badly when he was tired. "Mos'ly. Some areas require we-wiring. Give me dree brudders." He winced at how his words came out, he _was_ tired. Shaeeah would be exhausted from walking the caves. They'd both sleep deep tonight.

"I can't spare more than two," admitted Rex as he rubbed his palm over his chin. "And that's pushing it." Most of the brothers they knew were in the caves, helping set it up.  Their previous experience as troopers extremely valuable and helpful.

Quad frowned, his strong hand massaging the weaker; the fingers of his weaker hand gripping the fingers of his stronger; therapy turned to habit. "Pax, Ripos'e 'vail'ble? Dey do wiring and Ripos'e mag 'trips, idee locks, coders."

"I can give you both men until our deadline." Rex nodded then smiled as he leaned against the console. "How does it feel to be back on Dantooine, Quad?"

"Good. A chance to see vode I mist." Quad grinned. "Gossip with sisters, p-lay with chil'ren. Very good to see new chil'ren." He rolled up the schematics of the newly emerging base and tucked them into the holder in his chair then held up his fingers, ticking them off with his other hand. "Dub twins, Pax dau'er, Gekko son, Col's two and two, Kayl's baby, Lev and Countdown wives' pregnant. Chil'ren of clan marriage, adopted chil'ren. Those on Saleucami." He made a fist and laughed, delighted. "So many chil'ren, so much fam'ry, Rex. There is strength in fam'ry."

Rex leaned forward a bit, slightly uncomfortable. "No insult meant, Quad, and you can tell me to leave it be; but how goes your own baby-making project?"

Quad let out a heavy breath and shook his head regretfully. "No insult, brother. Sha is not cop'rative. I s'poke with Es'ketch and Ch'opper. Cody too. All s'are, each man willing, their women willing and proud. Sha like dem, but say no. Only me." Quad shook his head sadly. "Will not hap'n that way." His voice was wistful and he paused, facing the floor. "Functional at times." He gave a lop-sided grin at Rex even though his eyes were sad. "Not all times." Then he shook his head again. "But Kix and Saria say I prob'ly can't make her pregnant." His amber eyes caught Rex's in humor. "'tubborn Sha."

"All the best women are stubborn, Quad." Rex returned a smile and put his hand on Quad's shoulder. "All the best, most worth-while women in the galaxy are all as stubborn as stones."

Quad grinned and tapped his chest. "More stubborn."

"Stones, clones or women," smiled Shaeeah as she came into the room, the headset around her neck. "I think I walked into the punch line and missed the joke."

She gave Rex a welcoming hug then moved to stand next to Quad, her arm circled around him. Quad watched her with a pleased and possessive smile on his lips reaching up to touch her fingers and she touched him with a pleased and possessive demeanor.

Rex wouldn't have put credits on them as a couple on Saleucami nearly five years ago; a fourteen-year old farm girl and a clone trooper who hadn't even seen a woman until escape from prison? That had been infatuation and curiosity. He certainly wouldn't have made any bets after Quad's accident: Quad sulking like a child and Shaeeah determined to marry, in spite of what her mother and Saria thought. in spite of good sense, in spite of anything. Miraculously, it had worked out. Shaeeah may have wanted him on Saleucami like a child wants a toy. She might have convinced herself she was in love with him when she'd shown up on Dantooine with too much pride to listen to common sense. But it was in the daily living and growing when they'd returned to Saleucami that Quad and Shaeeah had become opposite halves of the same thing.

"We're about to…" began Shaeeah, her words crushed by noise as an explosion ripped through the near-empty corridors of the base. Quad nearly slipped from the chair and caught hold of the console. Shaeeah screamed in pain and threw down the headphones. Rex, also at the console, was flipping switches.

" _Kriff_ , what's live? Find it, Quad," he ordered, reverting to the captain he'd once been.

Half off his chair and holding himself by one arm leaning against the console, Quad had the coordinates. The explosion had come from someplace Shaeeah had already calibrated; someplace that was 'alive' in the enormous cavern or her headphones wouldn't have activated. But not all the electronics were alive in their base so he tracked it by acoustic measurements.

"In-b'ief. Near hangars," said Quad, his eyes going over the console, then he looked up at Rex. "New guy, Sa'ha, Din. Cor'dor dree, room twon-sev'n." Rex was out the door at a run. Quad gestured to Shaeeah; she knew the base best. "Go wif."

Shaeeah gave a quick nod and was out the door barely an instant after Rex.

An explosion in their new base wasn't good.  Quad called medical, hoping Kix had been there and not near the explosion, not near in-brief where he'd be about half the time to help the new brothers.

"Where?" Kix's voice came on-line.

"In-b'ief, leas' five maybe ten peo-po." _Kriff_ , he was slurring badly.

"In-brief, five to ten possible casualties," repeated Kix. "If you can, get Chopper or Larim to meet me."

"Dere." Quad swallowed. "Maybe casu'ties. Rex, Sha go he'p."

Kix was quiet a moment then he spoke again, his voice hard and tight – like the battlefield medic he'd once been. "I'm headed there, Quad."

There was a woman's voice, "Waxer's went with…" then medical closed circuit.

Quad licked his lips and composed the next message in his head, mentally seeing his lips form the words, avoiding words that would be hard for him to pronounce. This one wasn't going out to just his brothers. It was for everyone scattered throughout the cavernous base to people who didn't know him.

"Attention. Attention. Exp'osion," well, he couldn't have avoided that word. "Near hangar four three. All s'heck in with area warden. Firs' re-ponders to area." _They should all know their area wardens,_ thought Quad. _We drill them enough_. "Damage unknown. Any medical background, let Rex or Kix know." Quad was pretty sure everyone knew Rex and Kix had cleared medical with most of the workers.

Quad pulled what information he could from the console, checking sonic vibration, checking the integrity of the stone cavern near the explosion and broadcasting that message out as well. There was only minor structural damage.

He worked hard, doing everything he could think of doing. Because he didn't want to think about what might have happened. But there were only so much he could do; only so much he could find out. When he was finished and there was nothing else, he slowly slid from the console's table surface to the floor. He made sure his lifeless legs were not twisted under him then he waited. Waiting like when he'd been a trooper.  Waiting with gut-wrenching dread.

He was still waiting, on the floor and leaning against the console; his eyes tightly shut against tears when Shaeeah finally returned. It was late and he recognized her footsteps. He turned his head and a glance at her told Quad more than he wanted to know.

"Who dead, Sha?"

She was silent as she slid next to him, curling into his chest. His weaker arm came around her shoulders and pulled her head next to his. New tears streaked her face over older tear tracks and her clothes were streaked with blood.

"Saoha," she whispered and Quad shut his eyes again in pain. "Djinn, Waxer, Kayl, Dyshaea, Murdo, Kellen, three more rebels and the clone Saoha brought. Injured include Chopper and Porkins, Larim, surface scratches. Rex has delayed the arrivals of the others until we find out what happened."

Quad shook his head. "How?" he asked softly then harder. "How did he smugo 'posives with Sa'ha?"

"Rex, Ahsoka and Larim think the trooper didn't know. They think it was something the Kaminoans did to his body chemistry. Twisting his genetics further than imaginable. Linking explosives inside him to his emotions and using that as the trigger."

Quad was horror-struck. "Body chem'try?"

Shaeeah nodded and stood. "That's what they think," her voice quivered. She lowered the power chair for Quad, helping him back into the seat.

"Let's go home." She turned toward him, her small, cold hand in his larger hand and dropped her forehead to his chest. His other hand came up, stroking her lekku to comfort. "I want a child. We'll ask Baffle and Jesse and Cody. Not Chopper now." Shaeeah sobbed. "Even if he lives that would only…"

Quad nodded. In losing Saoha, Chopper would have lost a large part of himself. Shaeeah turned her face into his chest, held by his arms, her sobs muffled by his clothing and the protective circle of his body. Then she sniffled and looked up into his eyes, her face blotchy patches of light green and coral.

"If I can't know the child is yours, I don't want to know who the father is." She gulped back her tears. "You understand, don't you? That if it is the four of you, I can always believe it is your child?"

"Yes, Sha," he whispered. "I understand. We go home soon ath you with."

Her head came up and she looked at him with her jaw square and firm. "Not til it's done, Quad." 

Quad nodded as he hugged her tightly, closing his eyes and tucking his head into her neck. His own tears ran down her face as she spoke.

"Not until you've made this base the best, impenetrable and invisible to anyone searching for it."

**********

_They'd lost others but never anyone so close and so violently; three brothers and two wives who'd left children too young to understand._

_Crux was dead these five years and now Waxer, Djinn and Kayl had joined him._

_Backup, Checkout, Riven and Dare hadn't ever returned though Cut kept the small vials for them in ever diminishing hope they would one day come home, walking down the long lane and past the friendly trees._

_The attrition of war had begun._


	4. Into the Gundark's Den

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AN: Clone Trooper Shy was reconditioned in prison, probably several times. He lives his life in terror but of what, he can't explain. He has new trooper reflexes like a shiny fresh off Kamino. Shy first appeared in Chapter 8 of Harun as kitchen help to Suu.  
> _____________________________________________________________________________________

His Serene Highness Prince Bail Organa, First Chairman and Viceroy of Aldaraan, stately in some sort of ceremonial garb, shuffled the long, fur-lined cape off his shoulders and over his arm. He sat with an exhausted sigh, the ceremonial sword at his side dangling over the edge of the chair. He made a gesture to the palace guards who moved out of the room though they eyed his visitor, dressed in dark trousers and a well-worn coat with the careless disregard of one not used to protocol, warily and with barely concealed distaste. Not necessarily because he was a clone but because he might be a danger.

  
Ignoring them, Bail gestured to a nearby chair as he tossed the cape over the back of a couch. The clone sat with a soft grunt. Bail had noticed a new limp when he'd been escorted into the room and his face was thin with recent deprivation.

  
Bail reached for the ever-present tray of sweetbits and offered them to Cody.

  
"Ever the responsible host," Cody smiled wanly but his fingers reached out for a cream-filled pastry and he took a bite.

  
"I finally understand my sister’s desire to push food at someone," Bail countered. "You look…" Bail paused, for once in his politician's career, unable to think of the correct word.

  
"Terrible?" Cody chuckled as he took the second and final bite of the pastry and swallowed with a contented sigh. "Everyone has told me. Including men I used to command. Including men I still command."

  
Bail gestured at Cody's leg. "And do they make comments about your limp?"

  
"More than you know, Bail." Cody actually laughed and Bail breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever had happened, Cody had some good news, some small success to report. Bail raised an eyebrow in question at Cody's words and Cody nodded, reaching for another pastry; this one covered in high-fat cream and a sprinkling of high-protein nuts.

  
"I was shot," Cody leaned forward, shifting his weight in the chair. "In the ass. Running.” He gave a wry grin. “Away."

  
"They assume you a coward?" Bail wasn't sure of the culture among the clones or among whatever people Cody had settled with, but he was pretty sure he remembered hearing something about cowardice among the clones when he'd been on Christophsis at the beginning of the Clone War.

  
Cody shook his head. "My men know better than that." There was pride in his voice. Bail understood why; Cody's Men – Cody's Command – Cody's Deserters, whatever they were called, were gaining a reputation for getting impossible things done up to and including the theft of a fully-stocked I class Imperial Star Destroyer.

Sometimes he just wanted to sit down with the man and listen. Ask him how he performed such miracles. Bail sighed. Not until after the war was over. He didn't think Cody would survive that long though he did look younger than the few clone stormtroopers Bail had seen.

"Running from those kinds of odds is called a judicious retreat. But they still laugh. And so do I." Cody gestured at the tray and Bail took a treat himself. "How go politics, Bail?"

"It's no better, Cody," he shook his head, the sugar-nut in his fingers forgotten. "It's never any better and I wonder whether it will be in my lifetime." He looked up into Cody's brown eyes, surrounded by the crescent scar and fine lines of worry. Bail recognized the two furrows between his eyebrows. On Aldaraan they called them 'parent's lines'. Because it was always over someone you cared about. Bail had his own set of lines for adventurous Leia, quiet Winter and the entire planet of Aldaraan.

  
Cody included so many of the stormtroopers in the lot he counted as brothers as well as his small company of deserters. Bail had some suspicions of who was in that company but he never asked. Already, Bail knew too much to feel comfortable almost anywhere in the Empire – including places in his own palace.

  
Bail contemplated the sugar-nut he realized he had in his fingers. "Has the security situation been taken care of?" Bail tossed it into his mouth then started unbuttoning the outer jacket of his dress uniform, trimmed in gold. "Admiral Ackbar is quite firm that his fleet will not go into a place of rest where there is no security." He paused a moment in the act of removing the large pendant on an equally large chain from around his neck. Solemnly, he ran his fingers of the seal and set it carefully on a table. "I'll tell you that he doesn't have much choice and it's mostly bluster. He'll take – gladly – anything you can offer."

  
"The situation has been … corrected," Cody nodded sadly. "It was a singular aberration. A deserter wasn't quite as peaceful as he seemed but we have taken further precautions against the re-occurence of such an event." He leaned back in the chair, one hand pressing against his thigh where, Bail knew, an old scar occasionally troubled him. "The security came at a high price."

  
Bail frowned, hoping it wasn't a cost of money, that Cody hadn't come asking for money. Credits were in short supply even from planetary governments. "Didn't you mention a Zeltron? How did …"

  
"He didn't know, Bail." Cody's voice was strained and Bail turned his full attention on the former commander suddenly realizing the cost hadn't been in credits, but in lives.  
"He was the explosive, Bail. You know we clones were created and the Fett DNA enhanced to its highest potential. This trooper," Cody paused. "His DNA was stretched beyond imagination to become … unstable and tied to an emotion as the detonator." Cody grimaced and turned sad eyes toward Bail. "Happiness."

  
For a moment there was silence as each man sat, unmoving; Bail horrified at such cruelty and Cody, his head bowed, simply remembering the aftermath of that travesty. How the deserter's happiness had brought them all such rage and sorrow.

******

  
He, Jesse and Shy were escorting remnants of the Renatasian fleet of just over twenty fighters and three transports when they received the emergency message halting the armada of rebels. Against Admiral Shanga's wishes, Cody had gotten one of the pilots to ferry him to Dantooine. Even so, he had to leave the pilot and fighter at Clan Gwydr's grounds. Shanga's small fleet had departed the Raioballo system by the time Cody's feet touched Dantooine soil.

  
Kierzon and Gekko had met Cody and silently escorted him to the cavern. The camp had been quiet except for the lowing of bantha and one tent where Cody heard a family mourning, crying and screaming in pain. It was a sound Cody knew. His heart made a similar noise every time he'd lost a man – GAR, prison or after.

  
Cody heard voices raised in argument long before he reached the mess that doubled as a meeting room. Gekko had frowned and dropped his head reaching out a hand to touch Cody's arm. "Sir," his voice had been soft in pain and regret. "I go no further. I've renounced any right to rebellion for the foreseeable future." The man looked miserable, as though he was afraid Cody would call him _hut'tuun_. Coward. When there was no immediate answer Gekko turned and walked back toward the outside, back to the grassy plains and the tufted shoulder fur of the nerf bulls, back to the grunts and low calls of the bantha.

Cody's eyebrows twisted in confusion and he was about to call Gekko back when Kierzon spoke.

  
"He and Lev have taken over raising the children."

  
"The children?" Cody's eyebrows went up in shock. There'd been children involved?

  
Kierzon nodded. "Kayl and Dyshaea left a baby girl. Physically, she's doing well enough but keeps crying for her mama." He paused and frowned. "Saoha died and Kix isn't sure Chopper will make it but it looks as though their child won't make it either. He’s only six months but he doesn't cry and he doesn't…" Kier's face twisted as though he were about to break into sobs, but he pulled himself under control. "He doesn't react. Like he's in shock."

  
Cody closed his own eyes in sorrow. War was paid in blood and this was only the beginning.

  
"There will not be any further recruiting!" It was a shout, hard and angry with raging fury, coming from the mess. Cody opened his eyes, startled by the fury in that voice.

"I think I can find my way from here, Kier," Cody had put his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Let Gekko and Lev know I understand." He gave Kierzon a slight smile. "There are things more important than rebellion. The reasons the rebellion is fought are more important than rebellion itself."

  
Kierzon raised an eyebrow in disbelief then nodded and turned. Cody watched him go for a moment. He turned and walked from the corridor right into that cacophonous argument.

  
"A rebellion is no better than the ideals it defends." That was a woman's voice; not shouting but no less angry for its softness. Cody recognized Numa's voice. She'd grown. He remembered when she'd only been six and adopted Boil and Waxer. What was she now? Twenty? Twenty-one?

  
Another raised voice echoed from the room. "You cannot deny your brothers the freedom you enjoy." The cadence and timbre were familiar, but Boil had never, to Cody's knowledge, raised his voice to that harsh volume and angry tone.

  
"They can be free, but not in my base."

  
"It's not your base, Rex." Cody's voice had been soft as he walked into the mess – both a place and a condition.

  
"Nor yours," Rex had snapped back angrily. "But the people here are under my care."

  
Cody couldn't disagree with that though at the moment he couldn't disagree with anything. Not until he knew. "What happened?"

  
"The trooper blew up."

  
Cody didn't recognize the man who said that save that he wore pilot's gear. He was light-skinned with brown hair, a mustache and small, neat beard. He'd been recently wounded, there were shrapnel scratches along one side of his face and one arm of the orange suit was ripped, revealing bandages. He stared at a table then he jerked his head up at Rex. "I disagree with your decision, Rex."

  
"Noted, Porkins." Rex smiled grimly. "I don't expect it to be a popular decision."

  
Even after Cody heard the entire sequence of events, he still found it hard to believe that a man, a trooper, someone with his own genes had simply blown up.

  
Rex had fought, arguing against everyone, demanding, forbidding the recruitment of any new troopers. He'd been consumed with rage that someone should endanger his brothers, his wife, his… people. Cody knew he sometimes had his son, Barin with him. This was the first time since leaving Saleucami that he'd lost brothers – family. Chopper was still in ICU, too wounded to do anything more than whisper a few words which no one understood.

  
Later Cody found out that Boil had come rushing in on a hyperdrive transport piloted by an unknown clone, to collect both Numa and the remains of Waxer. Cody had never seen the scout so rabidly angry, so openly emotionally. Oddly enough, his rage was not only for the loss of Waxer, but for the loss of men Rex demanded he no longer recruit. That argument had begun in anger and ended quietly in tears.

  
Numa, pale and wan from so much crying, had touched Boil on the arm and he was silent, turning his face to hers in question. Then she had turned to Rex. "We will not return to Dantooine, Rex, but we will not stop recruiting brothers when we can."

  
"Numa," His voice had gone gentle and Cody thought Rex might cry facing the lean Twi'lek woman. Tears were running down Ahsoka's face as she stood at Rex's side. Cody knew she disagreed with Rex but wouldn't say so publicly.

  
"Please understand, I can't afford the uncertainty, the possibility it might happen again. We have no clue what happened and how this was done. We cannot guard against it."  
Cody suddenly realized Rex didn't agree with his own decision; that he was torn and simply taking the more conservative action because he was responsible for all the people who came to the cave.

  
Numa give a little ghost of a smile. "I do understand, Nerra Rex. You do this because you love your people." She gestured a circle with her hand, taking in the contents of the cavern. "I recruit your brothers because I love them and they are my people. I will not stop and you have forbidden it. I think we must part ways." She moved forward and put her arms around him, laying her head and lekku against his chest. "I will miss you, Rex, and we will think of you often. Think of us, as well."

  
Rex pulled her closer, hugging her tightly. "I will think of you every day, Numa. You and Boil and Waxer and all the brothers you've freed out into the Outer Rim and Wild Space." Rex released her from his arms and turned to Boil, observing him, the depth of his loss evident only to someone who knew him well. He clasped forearms. "Boil. I...I'm sorry."

Words were so inadequate.

***********

  
Cody sighed and nodded to Bail. "It wasn't good but the situation won't happen again." He stretched his long legs out, rubbing the old wound on his thigh, giving himself some time while Bail pulled off his jacket and removed the sword, leaning over a desk as he consulted a small paper – how archaic, thought Cody – then nodded to himself.

"State dinner tonight. Mon Mothma will be there as well as Moff Tarkin. I suspect it will be a contentious dinner and no matter how good the food, it won't sit well." His lips twisted slightly in dark humor. "A good dinner for Leia's political training."

  
"Is Mon Mothma still outspokenly defiant of the emperor?" Cody tried to ignore that Bail also thought this would be a multi-generational conflict. Rex trained Barin, Bail trained Leia; how similar the two men were.

  
Bail nodded. "I fear for her life. One day the emperor will realize that her words are like seeds; tiny in themselves but put to fertile minds and they will grow to bear fruit."

"I'll send you a man," Cody nodded. "You'll need to train him in politics and how to be an aide but he'll be one of my best."

One of Cody's best and Bail knew that meant a clone.

  
"Thank you, Cody."

  
Cody stood, a little woodenly at first, but a few movements had the stiffness worked out of his legs and he made his way to the door. His fingers were on the old-fashioned knob before he spoke again.

  
"I've got a man in, Bail." He said with a broken smile. "It will probably, ultimately mean his death and mine as well, but we've infiltrated the Imperial Army."

***********

  
Cody waited for Shy, he heard through the comm unit, Shy's words. They'd had found something only Shy could do… infiltrate a company.

  
"Sir, yes sir. Direct from Coruscant, sir."

  
Cody could almost hear the snap as Shy saluted the company's captain. Almost fifteen years since Order 66; probably that long since Shy had been a trooper, and he still saluted and acted as shiny as though he'd come off Kamino yesterday.

  
"I'm sorry, sir. I am unaware of who processed my orders. I was on Kamino for r…r….reconditioning. I only know I was supposed to report immediately. Barracks twelve? CS-1935? Sir, yes sir, I'll find it." There was a moment's pause. "I'm sure they'll come in soon, sir."

  
Orders; that was Cody's duty and they were impeccably real, provided by Numa.

  
Jesse, also listening to the transmission, shook his head with a grin and caught Cody's eyes. "So, what will we steal this time?"

  
Cody's expression went grim. "Nothing."

  
"Nothing?" Jesse let out a breath and he noted Cody's sorrowing expression. "Then this is bigger than the star destroyer we stole? That one made me want to retire this job."

  
Cody nodded. When Jesse talked about retiring, he wanted to go home. He wanted to visit his family; Edge and Cass and Baffle and the children – three of them brought to Saleucami by Jesse as he searched for the children of Order 37. Jesse said it made him remember why he was doing all this crazy stuff. He said the best times were when Riposte was there also. Riposte had found the remnants of the refugee family he'd once belonged to and had formed a rebel cell with the survivor.

  
Shy usually returned to Saleucami with Jesse and stayed with Cut and his Captain Suu. Suu would be angry not to see Shy coming up the lane, a grin on his face.

  
"I think you might want to retire. At least until you get bored with it. We won't be coming back here for a while." Cody knew that Jesse couldn't take 'retiring' for more than eight or nine months. Then he would dream of Elarlu Cihon and go, once again, in search of children before finding Cody.

  
Jesse frowned. "We can't leave Shy without…"

  
"Backup would only prove he's a spy, Jesse. He's on his own."

  
There was silence between the two men who'd been together almost a decade then Jesse sighed deeply and spoke.

  
"Cap'n Suu won't be happy with what you've done with her trooper."

  
"No, Jesse, I don't think she will. I'm going to be _hut'tuun_ and let you face her. I'll be going to Dantooine."

  
Jesse merely nodded.

  
They had been recognized at the port, been chased by five hundred men as good as them, but not quite as motivated. Getting shot – not enjoyable – and having to hide for several long weeks, constantly on the move, as they waited for a chance to leave the planet.

  
Cody strode along the long hallways of Bail's palace to the private landing where an unknown pilot - not a clone - waited to take him to Dantooine. "Nerfherder central," the man had joked and Cody had merely nodded.

  
Dantooine Base was functioning more as an outpost than a garrison which Cody hoped the arrival of Admiral Ackbar's fleet would change. It was a hidden base with such potential, so wonderfully situated to assist the rebellion they had foreseen on Saleucami now beginning to coalesce. Overseeing the base with Col and Rex was only one part of going to Dantooine Cody enjoyed.

  
There was a woman there. They didn't talk about forever or children or love. They were both satisfied with the arrangement and with each other. There was kindness and care for each other in both of them. Sometimes Cody wondered who she had lost, but he never asked. The same that she never asked him about the bracelet of beads around his wrist.

  
Quad had spoken to him and Jesse about giving Shaeeah a child. He had presented it as a possibility and Cody had agreed. Shaeeah was pregnant now, maybe already a mother. Cody shut his eyes. He'd be uncle Cody to the child, Quad would be the father.

  
Sometimes Cody wondered if he wanted a child of his own; but it was an abstract, occasional desire. He wanted this base more, he wanted his brothers free and the Empire gone.  H wanted the emperor dragged from his throne and corruption destroyed.  That was Cody's child, the one he nurtured and cared for; the one he had given up a sound body for and the reason he had sent reconditioned Shy alone into the gundark's den.

Everyone was expendable.


End file.
